Yeah, I noticed the ERA+s when I got them from BR. It must have to do with park factors. Josh's ERA, though higher, must be slightly more impressive than Cabrera's when you look at where he has pitched.

About ERA+: well, that makes sense. I didn't realize it stacked players up against anything but each other.

Blue Jays are +24Yankees are -7Orioles are -13

This strongly implies that if there's a team we have to worry about besides the Rays, it's the Jays, not the Yanks.

We've mentioned a bit about comparing the Yanks' bad start this year versus the Yanks' bad start last year. Even though their start was much worse early in the 2007 season in terms of their record, their RS/RA was quite positive, suggesting that they were due to have a much better second half.

It's not so early in the season any more. How does this year stack up against last year for NY? After 64 games in 2007, they were 33-31, 7.5 games behind us (despite a falloff, the Sox were still a very impressive 41-24).

At that point, our RS/RA was 328/263, or +65.

But the Yanks were at 360/295, also +65.

So, as often as you might think to yourself "Well, the Yanks turned it around last year, they can do it this year," it looks pretty bad for them at -7 RS/RA.

I think they can win 85 games or so. And although they've had some tough breaks with the young pitching not working out (not to mention Pettite and Wang lately), they've also had some real unlooked-for gifts from Mussina and Rasner. But as RS mentioned a while ago, it looks like this is their year to play golf in October.

Manny given 500 HR plaque. Eddie Murray hands it to him, and makes a motion like "hold it above your head." After another whisper, Manny gets the message, and holds it up--horizontally, but the plaque is configured vertically! That'll be a funny picture.

Filed under the "glad it's not my team cabinet" - Jerry Hairston, Jr. broke a finger, and will probably be out a month. He's the third Reds shortstop to go on the DL, joining Alex Gonzalez and Jeff Keppinger.

Hey Phil, I thought you said if I moved to Providence we'd be neighbors--yet you also talk about Metro-North and now NJ is local to you. Did I misunderstand your Prov comment? (Or was that somebody else?)

Well, I haven't posted here in quite a while. In fact, probably since the end of the postseason (how did that end? Anyone remember?). I do have a good excuse, though... been travelling around Argentina and Chile. In fact, I'm in Buenos Aires right now. I have been following the Sox, though I haven't seen a single game all season.Kind of a roller coaster of a game so far, huh? Two bases-loaded no-outs situations in 3 innings. So, how's everyone doing?

Zen: Winter's treating me fine, I guess. Got that once-a-day cough outburst thing. Annoying, but nothing more. Allan: Glad to be back. I have to say JoS (along with some other sites) really make following the season without seeing the games somewhat bareable.L: The national parks are in both Argentina and Chile- mostly from Patagonia, the southern part. I haven't travelled too much in my life, but it is the most amazing place I've visited. Both countries are just busting with natural treasures, fascinating culture and problematic and interesting history...

Hey kids. It's an off night for the Navigators, so I was excited to be able to watch most of the game. I just got home from hanging out with my Little Brother from the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, figuring it would be like the 2nd inning, only to discover that it was another fraggin' 6 PM start.

Hmmm... rock formations are either Valle de la Luna (valley of the moon) in San Juan or the Salta area in north Argentina. Both not in Patagonia. Patagonia is more mountains, lakes, rivers and glaciars.And my Spanish is perfect, and my Argentinian slang is getting there. I did live in Argentina for 6 years when I was a kid, so it's not fair.

Hi, Amy. I thought you had emailed me saying you were going to the game tonight so I was very confused when you just got here. I checked my mail--it was my cousin Amy! Good thing my reply to her was fairly unspecific--I could've said, Too bad you won't be on the board tonight! And she would've thought I was crazy....

That's funny, Jere! There are always too many Amy's. This may be one of the only places where I am the only one. I once had FOUR Amy's in my class, plus me. In French class in 7th grade, there were 3 of us, and I ended up being called Gigi. I hated that.

Good thing you didn't pick on your cousin for whining about not getting tickets!

WTF? How did Blogger manage to repost my first comment right now? Weird...

Hey, Amy, how are you? Everything OK?And happy Shavuot to you, too, although I didn't know it was today until you just said so. I'm in meat country now, so Shavuot wouldn't be highly appreciated.BTW, to all you steak lovers: come to Argentina.

Opening weekend for the Navigators was a mixed bag: attendance near 2,000 for the opener, a thrilling 4-3 win - followed by two losses, with Monday night's 4-0 defeat being played in front of a crowd of (I shit you not) 75.

" i like that jere hears the word "amy" and thinks of a jos poster and not his cousin -- an actual family member!!"

Haha! Well it seemed normal--that cousin hardly ever emails me and JoS Amy and I had just had an email conversation about Red Sox games. Sorry to be revealing pieces of your personal albeit electronic life, Amy....

Zen, I disagree that it's a mixed blessing. We're eating only grass-fed beef now and are very happy with the change. They are "finished" on barely, oats and other grasses, not corn - grasses that still add fat but that the cows can digest.

L, you've heard right, on all points. Crazy cheap, most of all. In a fancy restaurant (well, not really fancy, but one that makes you wonder if your fleece jacket and nylon hiking pants aren't disrespectful before sitting down) a 700gr (1.5lbs, I think) steak can cost about 10$. And it's really good.

And while I'm talking nonsense, back to back! Back in the lead! I should follow GDGD more.

Grass fed beef tastes different than corn fed, but IMO much much better. It takes like I remember steak tasting from my youth, before the corn industry took over the planet.

And beef is not so much corn fed and corn finished if I understand the process correctly

I think you don't. They are corn starved. It's basically a race between the slaughterhouse and starvation, because cows can't digest corn. That's why they are shot full of antibiotics and get sick and die.

It's pretty cold in Buenos Aires. We had a couple of days in the 2-6 celsius range (37-45 or so. Fucking illogical non-metric-non-celsius system). Now it's a bit better, but not by much. Getting into the heart of winter.Amy, I should be coming back to the US in the end of June. The next park I work in will probably be in PA, NJ, or... Boston.

What do you do for parks? Which park in Boston? (I assume not Fenway....)

Nova Scotia is quite beautiful---we just hit a foggy spell, which made seeing much of the coast a struggle. But we still enjoyed Halifax and the place where the tide comes rushing in---I forget the name, but it is supposed to be where there is the biggest difference between low and high tide. Peggy's Cove was pretty also, though quite touristy.

I'll be going to NB in a few weeks. My grandmother lives in northern Maine and I'll make sure to take a trip across the border. The scenery there is just amazing. Western NB. Little city called Grand Falls.